One more week at the Ministry of Funny Walks before jumping ship, and enjoying the feeling of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Handover is almost complete and I have two leaving meals organised (thanks to Covid work-from-home patterns it’s difficult to get everyone in one place these days).

Apart from having to chase the pimps again it’s not actually been an onerous task locating a new contract, with two promising options warming up at the same time despite the poor timing approaching the Christmas lull.

I’ve decided to go back to my previous employer for a 4 month spell, which may seem like a backward step given how delighted I was to get out of there only 10 months ago. However I’m going in specifically to knock over some juicy projects we’d had on the “if only we had the resources” wishlist for a while. Plus great Manager, good colleagues, catered lunch, shorter commute and Christmas shutdown.

So providing I’m not spending half the day cabling up desks, replacing headsets or fielding complaints like “my keyboard is too flat” it’ll be a spell in safe harbour to help build up the confidence ahead of hitting a fresh place of work next year.

Assuming I don’t repeat the same trick and return to the Ministry of Funny Walks of course ….

Definitely moving towards the right of the diagram quicker than I would like.

Works surprisingly well! One of my favourite 80’s classic films mashed up with one of my favourite 00’s tunes.

Having spent the past couple of months in a perpetual state of “fed up” with occasional bouts of “f*ck this” I came to the realisation that something had to change. And that something was primarily the job. So – yes Dean, yet again – I’ve given notice at The Ministry and have decided to go back to contracting.

Three years ago I made the decision to go permy to trade a drop in income for a better work/life balance. Trouble is I’ve been maintaining a contractor mentality for 20 years and I just can’t shake that way of working; I have to give it 100% – and feel like I’m delivering some value – or I just get stressed. And this place just won’t allow me to get anything delivered without ridiculous amounts of faffing about.

Anyways, from the start of November I start a new 5 year plan; get contracting, get earning and pay off the mortgage so I can buy that bloody bookshop!

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/uk-satire-pokes-fun-jacinda-arderns-handling-covid-19-super-kiwi-socialistic-extra-nice

Slightly South African accent on Jacinda’s puppet but still a funny as song! Something to enjoy with an L&P and ginger crunch…

I do like a nice infographic, and this one’s a belter! Graphical depiction of the 100 most popular websites, their size representing the number of visitors they get. Clearly the Google, Facebook and Youtube trifecta form the core of the non-dark web.

Whisper it quietly but I have to say I quite enjoyed the weeks of Covid lockdown earlier this year. No cars, deserted streets, nobody in the parks. It was blissfully quiet. Then the lockdown ended and everything went back to normal, including the noise.

If this year has helped me realise anything it’s that I’m not as good at processing noise as other people, which I see now has shaped how I live my life in many ways.

I’ve never enjoyed going to noisy pubs and nightclubs, parties or mass gatherings – apart from sports events where you can focus your attention on a specific thing. The sensory overload gets overwhelming and induces a feeling of panic, needing to get away to somewhere quieter.

It also helps to explain why I’ve plugged myself into a Sony Walkman / CD Player / iPod / mobile phone when out and about. Curating the soundtrack to my life gives me some control back and filter out the noise.

The increased stress levels brought on by the joys of 2020 have served to heighten my sensitivity to noise, especially the car exhausts as they accelerate up the hill next to our house, and the neighbour’s frequent “garage parties” that go on to the early hours.

The good news is that we’ve ordered some retrofit double glazing – replacing the single panes in the existing frames with double glazed panes – for the rooms facing the road/party house, including my bedroom. We’ve just had an installation date of 5th October, and providing it’s effective I’m looking forward to hearing less in the near future…

Last weekend would have been the 100th birthday of one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met. Her name was Lena Bodecott, but to be she was Nanna.

My childhood was much richer (and my waist much rounder) for her wonderful roast dinners, steamed puddings and baking.

She could drink most people under the table, laughed regularly and heartily and always saw the best in a situation. One thing she said to be in my teens has always stayed with me :-

“Life is too short to be unhappy”

I’ve tried to live by that and hope she would approve of what I’ve done.

She also believed I wouldn’t settle down with a Hull girl, and thought I’d end up with a foreign lass. Well, Leeds seemed a long way off back then! I know she would have gotten on like a house on fire with The Duchess, just a shame they never got chance to meet.

Happy Birthday Nanna. XXX